NASA Science News for May 29, 2009

An international panel of experts has issued a new prediction for the solar cycle which takes into account the surprisingly deep solar minimum of 2008-2009. Read today's story to find out when they think solar maximum will return.

FULL STORY at

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/29may_noaaprediction.htm?list1035898

Spaceships on the Move

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Atlantis hitches a ride on a 747 back to KSC. Credit: NASA TV

Atlantis has begun her journey back home to the Kennedy Space Center, hitching a ride on the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, a modified Boeing 747. The flight took off at about 11:05 EDT on Monday morning from Edwards Air Force Base, and the duo will fly to Biggs Army Air Field in El Paso, Texas and spend the night there before resuming the cross-country trip on Tuesday. Of course, Atlantis just returned from space, landing at Edwards on May 24, concluding the STS-125 mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope for the last time. Track the flight here.

But Atlantis isn’t the only spacecraft on the move. The shuttle Endeavour just rolled around to launchpad 39A, after standing down from its potential rescue mission, (STS-400) in case Atlantis was unable to return home, and now is preparing for the STS-127, which will hopefully launch around June 13. Watch the video of the rollaround below. And the next missions to the Moon are now poised for launch.

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The Truth About NASA’s UFO Videos

Image from the STS-80 shuttle mission. Taken from: AboveTopSecret

Perusing You Tube, there are lots of UFO videos, which are usually grainy, shaky videos showing nothing that can be proved definitively. But there are a couple of videos that are different — and have generated a lot of interest — because they were filmed by NASA astronauts during space missions. I’d like to recommend everyone read an article published today by Popular Mechanics where the astronauts who were behind the camera for two of these videos speak out about what is actually in the videos, and NASA’s supposed “cover-up.” The two astronauts, Tom Jones and Mario Runco “reveal” what the videos are really showing. “There’s no way to keep people from using public domain footage for silly purposes,” former astronaut Tom Jones says in the article. “If a shuttle beams back 10 hours of Earth views each day, there are bound to be images and scenes that are misunderstood or taken out of context.”
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Capture the Universe with Phil Plait

So, you think you’re a great astrophotographer? Then this is for you: the Bad Astronomer announced today he is hosting an astrophotography contest, sponsored by Discover Magazine and Celestron Telescopes. Phil himself will be the judge, so all you need to do is figure out what images he really likes and then get snapping! There are some great prizes:
Grand Prize: Celestron NexStar 8SE Computerized Telescope - Retail Value $1,399
One Runner-Up Prize: Celestron Axiom LX 31mm Eyepiece - Retail Value $399
One Viewer’s Choice: Celestron FirstScope – Retail Value $49.99
Read the rules and enter here. The only stickler-type rule is that the images need to be taken with Celestron equipment, but the contest runs from today (June 1) through June 30. Good luck to everyone, and I can’t wait to see all the images!

Have Astronomers Discovered A New Type of Supernova?

The sudden appearance of the transient "mystery object" SCP 06F6 in Hubble's field of view. The lower image quadrant represents a zoomed in view.

A team of astronomers at the University of Warwick think they’ve finally explained what caused the bizarre transient object SCP 06F6.  By comparing the optical spectrum of SCP 06F6 to that of carbon-rich stars in our own galaxy, the team concludes the sudden outburst was not a low-energy local event but a supernova-like explosion within a cool carbon-rich atmosphere some 2 billion light years away.  If they’re right, it means the collapse of carbon-rich stars may lead to supernovae unlike any yet seen.

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Carnival of Space #105

Carnival 105. Credit: Ian O'Neill

This week’s Carnival of Space is hosted by Ian O’Neill over at Discovery Space. Yes, Ian is at the Space Disco — if you’re confused, read this.

Click here to read the Carnival of Space #105

And if you’re interested in looking back, here’s an archive to all the past carnivals of space. If you’ve got a space-related blog, you should really join the carnival. Just email an entry to [e-mail], and the next host will link to it. It will help get awareness out there about your writing, help you meet others in the space community - and community is what blogging is all about. And if you really want to help out, let Fraser know if you can be a host, and he’ll schedule you into the calendar.

Finally, if you run a space-related blog, please post a link to the Carnival of Space. Help us get the word out.

A Top-Secret Explosion in M82

M82. The VLA image (top left) clearly shows the supernova (SN 2008iz). Credit: MPIfR

Supernovae are extremely luminous explosions of stars and cause bursts of radiation that often outshine an entire galaxy. So, when a supernova exploded last year in a nearby galaxy, why didn’t we see it? Was this an undercover supernova; a top-secret, covert event? Well, kind of. The secret is in the dust.
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Mars Rover Has a New Name

Artist concept of MSL. Credit: JPL

The Mars Science Laboratory rover, scheduled for launch in 2011, now has a new name, thanks to a sixth-grade student from Kansas. Twelve-year-old Clara Ma submitted the winning entry, “Curiosity” in the name-the-rover contest for schoolchildren, sponsored by NASA. “We have been eager to call the rover by name,” said Pete Theisinger, who manages the JPL team building and testing Curiosity. “Giving it a name worthy of this mission’s quest means a lot to the people working on it.”

For winning the naming contest, Clara gets to sign her name directly on the rover. But you can send your name to Mars with Curiosity, too.
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Distant black hole poses for a close-up

1H0707-495

Astronomers have probed closer than ever to a supermassive black hole lying deep at the core of a distant active galaxy that was once thought to be shrouded in dust — which will greatly advance the look captured in this NASA file image from the mid-1990s. Using new data from ESA’s X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission (XMM)-Newton spaceborne observatory, researchers peered into the innermost depths of the object, which lies at the heart of the galaxy known as 1H0707-495.

“We can now start to map out the region immediately around the black hole,” says Andrew Fabian, at the University of Cambridge, who headed the observations and analysis.

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Where In The Universe #56

It’s Wednesday (already?!) so that means its time for another “Where In The Universe” challenge to test your visual knowledge of the cosmos. This week’s image was submitted by UT reader Rob Bowman, and Rob is hoping to stump everyone this week. Try to guess/name where in the Universe this image is from, and give yourself extra points if you can name the spacecraft responsible for the image. Make your guess and post a comment, but please no links to the answer. Check back sometime on Thursday to find the answer and see how you did. Good luck!
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UT Briefs: Shuttle Lands, Re-living Phoenix

Atlantis touches down in California. Credit: NASA

Space Shuttle Lands

Space shuttle Atlantis landed safely in California on Sunday morning after “dynamic and unpredictable” weather kept the orbiter from returning to Florida. Atlantis touched down on runway 22 of Edwards Air Force Base at 11:39 am EDT (1539 GMT) Sunday, the first of two opportunities to land the shuttle in California. Atlantis spent nearly 13 days in orbit on the STS-125 mission, successfully repairing and upgrading the Hubble Space Telescope during a series of five spacewalks. Atlantis will be ferried to Kennedy Space Center on top of a modified 747 in about a week. Next shuttle mission: STS-127, slated for liftoff on June 13, on a trip to the International Space Station.
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Bolden Nominated as NASA Administrator; Shuttle Landing Delayed

Obama and a White House Aide met with Charles Bolden on May 19. Official White House photo by Pete Souza.

About the same time space shuttle Atlantis’ landing was waved off today due to continued rainy weather in Florida, the White House announced that former shuttle commander Charles Bolden Jr. will be nominated as NASA’s next administrator. President Obama also chose Lori Garver to be Bolden’s deputy administrator. Obama said, “These talented individuals will help put NASA on course to boldly push the boundaries of science, aeronautics and exploration in the 21st century and ensure the long-term vibrancy of America’s space program.”
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Opportunity Reveals Long-time Water, Winds at Victoria

A sizable collaboration of researchers has unveiled an enormous set of data from NASA’s Opportunity rover today — data that testify to the rover’s lucky longevity, and paint a picture of climate events that have shaped Victoria Crater, shown in this NASA/JPL-Caltech image.

The climate history is vast and compelling, including dramatic floods and terrain-shaping winds spanning billions of years. The data appear in today’s issue of the journal Science.

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